Review of Double Indemnity (1973) by Matt P — 22 Apr 2011

"Double Indemnity" has been labeled the greatest film noir, and I couldn't agree more. Everything in this movie was spot-on perfect. The dialogue was all natural and every meticulous detail put into writing the script was all there for a REASON.

For example in one scene Fred MacMurray's character impersonates a soon-to-be dead man on a train, and has a very brief conversation with a random man. Normally a scene like this would be just to simply add character development, or some sort of humor.

But here it all comes full circle in the end, as the "bad-guy" gets what is coming to him. Typically in the world of film noir, there never are clear good guys, and bad guys. That is a clear theme in this movie, as ambiguity runs thick.

One particular character named Keys(played brilliantly by Edward G. Robinson), starts off to look like the antagonist of the film. Going against the two cocky main characters. But as we get wrapped into this dark story of crime, we side more with him than MacMurray or Stanwyck.

This, of course, is a method Billy Wilder uses ingeniously to his advantage, throwing the audience off balance as to what is right and what is wrong in this movie. In film noir, there is neither. Dark lighting, good camera angles, and contrasting shadows make this movie what it is.

That, and some haunting narration by MacMurray throughout the whole duration of the film. It is a particularly dark movie for it's time, but certainly is a classic. All three leads play their rolls quite well.

The two main(MacMurray and Stanwyck), both too arrogant to think things through, and Robinson to counter that. Movie like "Double Indemnity" expose the darker side of cinema, and prove that Hollywood can do more then just recycled, optimistic films.

Of all the noirs made in it's time, and even today, "Double Indemnity" has got to be the best of it's kind. Or at least ONE of the best.